Out of the very many NGC, PBS documentaries I so voraciously consume, every once in a while I come across a particular documentary which literally blows me away with its sheer brilliance. This PBS documentary about British officer T.E. Lawrence was one of them.
Once Upon A TimeThe story starts with young Lawrence's first journey to Syria as an undergraduate student of Oxford exploring remains of castles and historical archives. Soon after graduation he accepts a job as an archeologist and returns to Carchemish, Syria. He has already established his reputation as a wanderer and historian by walking hundreds of miles across deserts and interacting with Arab communities. Working alongside local Arabs recruited as labourers at the excavation site he starts getting more and more involved with Arab culture and its people. Dressed up in Arab attire he cuts a rather cute figure. Here he befriended a waterboy, Dahoum, an Arab whom he trained as his photographic assistant and learnt Arabic from him. There is
speculation -- you saw it coming, didn't you? -- that they shared an active gay relationship
(What's up with these historic figures in that almost everyone seems to have some kind of hidden skeletons? Let's not go there, which I am sure is a matter of great import and a source of bread-and-butter for historians).
During this time he learns about resentment brewing in the Arab ranks towards the Turks who governed them. Around the same time, someplace else, European nations are planning for the First World War. Britain, France and Allied nations are preparing to launch an attack on Turkey from the west, whereas Germany wants Turk's alliance in exchange promising them arms and to develop trade routes(esp. railways). As all great historic events come to pass, this route, the Hejaz railway by coincidence falls alongside Lawrence's excavation site. This is about to mark Lawrence's role as link between the West and Arabs. He starts documenting each and every other thing about this project in great detail.
The Arab Revolt Against TurksOn commencement of World War I, with his two brothers joining the British army, Lawrence too lands a gig with the British military's intelligence division in Cairo (his archeologist position affording him a convenient legitimate front). He starts off by sending notes and photographs about the rly project as well as surmising the Arab geo-political scene. As he grows in stature, he is deputed to work with the Arabs and help in an Arab uprising to destabilize the Turkish enemy. The agreement between British and Arabs here being, that after the war the Arabs will get independent rule on their own land. It is here that Lawrence's experience comes handy. He meets Arab leaders with his proposal and gains their confidence, Emir Faisal in particular, to revolt against the Turks. Some tribal historians say his on-the-ground role in the actual revolt alongside Arab forces was limited to beng a technical expert in improvised exploding device(IEDs) helping to blow up Turkish military supply trains and raiding their outposts. But it's clear that he's much
more than that. To the Arab leaders he was the British liaison officer, and one amongst them, who supplied them gold and guns. To the British generals back home, he was their eyes and ears, dressed in military green on the Arab scene. Simply stated, this role fit him like a glove. All the while Lawrence maintains a personal account -- and going by the excerpts in this DVD, there is no doubt that he was an excellent writer and a story teller -- which is later to become his autobiography, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom - A Triumph'.
The Arabs go on to win some regional battles against Turks. However things are not hunky dory as The Empire wishes. France, the proverbial bone-in-the-burger
(kebab mein haddi) won't let the British have it all. They claim their slice of the Middle-East pizza. So they set out to do what nations did best during war times. Carve out a secret deal with the British. The British, ever the shrewd opportunist made a deal, the Sykes-Picot agreement in which they totally ignored the agreement with Arabs (made via Lawrence). This news of British two-timing gradually leaks out to Lawrence throwing him up in a dilemma. At once he decides to write up a protest letter. However he fears that disclosing this news to his Arab hosts might bring down the curtains on the revolt. He never delivers the letter and continues working with Arabs in their war. The Arabs are on fire and they can't smell the smoke.
BetrayalAt this point we are told - largely based on his own autobiography - that Lawrence believed he could fulfill his promises to Arabs despite the secret deal. He reasons that if the Arabs could win Aqaba followed by Damascus then he could still cut a deal for them. However I am a bit inclined to believe
(and perhaps I am incorrect, but when did that stopped a man from having uninformed hunches?, so pls correct me if you know better), that at best Lawrence was a cunning diplomat, and a military officer simply serving his masters keeping up his pretence of alliance. That this grand delusion that Lawrence had built up in his head about ensuring an independent Arab state was nothing but perhaps his own romanticism of potential heroism given the pivotal role he's playing, mixed with an attempt to lie to himself so as to mask his guilt for betraying the Arabs. He writes, "I had to join the [British] conspiracy".
Fastforward into the war, Arabs with Lawrence and support of other Arab tribes (Auda in particular; his granddaughter is interviewed in the film) go on to win Aqaba and Damascus. Parallely on the western front Jerusalem falls into Britisher's laps and Lawrence joins them in the celebration. All the while Arabs under Emir Faisal's leadership, naive as they were then, are counting on British to keep their word. But the bitter truth has to be ultimately disclosed. The Arabs make a disgraceful retreat from Damascus with their tails between their legs
("haath tau aaya, muunh na laga"). There will be no Arab state, atleast not with Palestine in it. And it is here, once again, that Lawrence tries to look the other side. For a man who wrote in extreme detail about each and every event of his journey leading to the war and beyond, one who meticulously described and photographed each castle, rock or rivulet he came across, for someone who was Faisal's translator during this historic meeting -- for a man of such impeccable credentials, is it merely surprising that he makes no mention of this most important moment? That his only remark about the event is, "I was too exhausted"? So even if we are to believe that he was in some sense sympathetic to the Arab cause due to his closen relations with Prince Faisal -- and there is ample evidence of that too -- he didn't speak when it mattered most.
That said, to his credit, after the war Lawrence went on to write articles pushing forward the Arab stand. However since popular opinion is against him, the papers started editing his letters. Perhaps a reminder to all of us that history is written by the victorious. That it's not as cut-and-dried as we'd like to think. He did make a final attempt to get Prince Faisal into Paris Peace Conference in 1919, however nobody would give them a hearing. The Europeans were then busy making peace with Germans at the end of WW-I, and an independent Arab state was not even a blip on their radar. As a way of displaying his anger and resentment, he also refused a medallion of honour or two awarded to him by the British military. This caught the attention of then Colonial minister, a certain Winston Churchill. (God bless his quotilicious soul).
Laurels for LawrenceNow comes the most surprising part. While all this is happening, nobody outside the establishment knows much about Lawrence. Like thousands of others, he is yet another distinguished British military officer who performed his duties. He is simply T.E.Lawrence.
Trust an American journalist to fill the gap. Enter journalist, and filmmaker Lowell Thomas. Soon after the Jerusalem win, he filmed Lawrence over several days in Sheikh Faisal's desert camp, in Arab costume, riding horses and camels, meeting Arab leaders..he taped it all. A plastic war shot on film for mass consumption. He's now suddenly transformed and thrust onto the global stage as
"Lawrence - The Uncrowned King Of Arabia". The movie Thomas made became hugely popular, so much so that British foreign office starts fearing for Lawrence's life (since Turks are after him, and amazingly they don't know how he looks like). However like most of us, while basking in his new found popularity Lawrence is not all comfortable with it. Thomas remarked about Lawrence, "He had a genius for backing into the limelight".
The EndFor the rest of his life Lawrence kept on moving between several defence jobs including one at Royal Air Force. As an advisor to Churchill he was involved in 1921 Cairo conference, where as a consolation Prince Faisal finally got Iraq and his brother Abdullah got Jordan. Towards his very end, Lawrence went into a shell. He took up a holiday home and gradually shut off communication with the outside world ("from now on, I'll write fewer letters", he replied to those who wrote him). His house had a Greek (or Latin? or somesuchthing) inscription that read "Don't care".
This five foot something with a huge history chip on his shoulders, had a rather flippant ending in a road accident. Trying to avoid two cyclists while doing 100kmph on his motorbike (apparently he loved speeding), Lawrence finally said goodbye and set out on the last of his journeys.
maut ne zamane ko yeh sama dikha dala
kaise kaise rustom ko khaakh main mila dala
yaad rakh Sikander ke hausle to aali they
jab gaya tha duniya se dono haath khali they
~ From the Qawwali, "Chadhta Sooraj dhereey dheerey" by Aziz Nazan.
About the documentaryTwo experts in the documentary that I want to point out are biographer Suleiman Moussa, and ex-foreign minister of Jordan Kamel Abu Jaber. Sometimes 'experts' in documentaries can sound quite boring and a bit too academic. Not these men. The speak their heart out with passion and authority. And everytime they come on screen, they bring a certain energy into the whole mix. Especially Suleiman Moussa with his hands waving all over and enacting the events to us as if it's all happening right in front of him. Watch out where Moussa says, "Damaaascus whaas the praaiz" -- the million-dollar glint in his eyes, and a sudden ecstatic shift in his tone is simply priceless. He totally draws you in. Put a beard on Mousa and he could very well be my grandfather. All this is set to a pitch-perfect warlike background score and a heavy deep-throated narration. The documentary also has some excellent B&W photographs and 10fps jumpy-skippy footage of WW-I. Mix all this together and the finaly pkg you get is nothing short of excellent!
Further ReadingComprehensive PBS Resource on
Lawrence of Arabia.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom : A Triumph -- Lawrence's autobiography
Wikipedia on Lawrence and a good
site for photos: both, his photos as well as photos taken by him.
To end this, I'll just say that if you are in the US and don't watch PBS regularly, you are losing out quite a lot. It's a free-to-air channel so you don't need outrageous $60p.m. cable connection and it's fully viewer-supported. And it has zero or very v.minimal ads in the programs . What more could you ask for! I will perhaps write a separate post about PBS and the public library system here. There is a lot to be said about these two great institutions.
ps: As I finish wrapping up this post I have an email from PBS to volunteer for their pledge drive coming Sunday. I am definitely going to land up there, and will write up a post on that experience too.
